It pours a nice jet black color with a modest and long lasting tan head. As it fades it laces.

The aroma is mellow and muted generally with a bit of chocolate, cocoa, and caramel malts balancing each other out but not taking the other one over. Still, I was hoping for boldness.

Medium body but mostly smooth and creamy.

The taste is like the aroma with its limited character. Yeah, I pick up some chocolate and malts but they don't explode on the tongue. There is a keen earthy bitterness that finishes up dryly at the end. Easy to drink, pleasant overall, but nothing out of this world.

Appearance: Pours with an above-average sized, light tan head - dark, deep brown at its core - retains a small cap and leaves some impressive lacing

Smell: Roasty and burnt with some malty sweetness in the back - definitely smells reminiscent of Gansett's porter, just bigger and substantially more burnt - roasted, toasted malts, and more burnt grains - dark chocolate and some burnt caramel sweetness - decidedly earthy - some black licorice, alcohol, and burnt sugar - maybe a tad too sweet overall, with a touch of something reminiscent of lactose

Taste: Bitter dark chocolate and burnt malts - burnt and roasty malts, but with an undercurrent of malt sweetness - chocolate malts with some malt extract syrup - earthy with some charred grains - lightly nutty, with some black licorice - some grassy hops in the finish as well as the aftertaste, which were a nice surprise - finishes with some residual sugar and a touch of alcohol

As mentioned above, this beer really strikes me as an imperial version of Narragansett Porter. That "porter" is really more of a stout, anyway. Overall, this is nicely burnt and roasty with a serious dose of dark chocolate. It's hard to rate a beer in this style, given the ambrosia-tier level of some Russian Imperials, but I can say that this is mid-level. (That is a compliment.)

A: The beer is a deep black color, with a large beige head that fades slowly and leaves a very thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, some smokiness and a touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out with a hearty roasted malt character. Then some flavors of dark chocolate and black coffee follow. There’s also some smokiness and dark fruit flavor in the background. The hops presence is mild but complementary and brings some balance. The after-taste is bitter-sweet.

22oz bottle. Pours a black color with an inch + of tan head. Lots of lacing. The aroma is earth, roasted malts, chocolate and caramel. Not much of a nose.The taste is a nice mix of dark chocolate and roasted malts along with some smoke and earth. Some light nuttiness as well. Smoky and roasty malts with some espresso and dark chocolate towards the end. A somewhat surprising amount of hop flavor to this one. Creamy mouthfeel. What this beer lacked in aroma it made up for in taste. Overall, another new solid offering from 'Gansett. Would love to see this in Tall Boys but I'll settle for the bomber. Worth seeking out.

Ok, this could be interesting. Gansett makes a RIS, I never thought I'd see the day, but then again their new lineup isn't all that bad.

Pours a darker almost mocha colored creamy rich 2 finger head that fades back quite slowly, nice layers of soapy lacing, super dark pretty much pitch black color with the faintest hint of light sneaking through the thin parts at the bottom.

Taste starts with rich dark malts, plenty of cocoa and dark choc, dry cocoa powder again, plenty of roast and dark char, black malt with a bitter dark roasty char but not overly acrid. A little biscuity toasty malt to go with the roast and chocolate again, with some caramel, and a touch of fluffy nougat. Fair to heavier bitterness with some earthy spicy hops to go with the bitterness from the roasty malts. Finish is sticky but dry, some warming booze finally comes through, with more earthy spicy hop bitterness, a little roast and dark malt, and mild cocoa.

Overall not bad, a bit too much on the roasty char, but not bad, and nice overall flavor and aroma combinations, all lead to a pretty good RIS. I actually think this will age a bit, and maybe I should try it and find out.

Very large four-finger head that settles quite slowly--especially for a pour from a bottle. As it recedes, it leaves chunks of beige lace on the glass. The liquid is nearly black, no light passes.

Chalky semi-sweet chocolate. A touch of milk to the nose as well.

Mild start but the burnt malt quickly takes over. The brew has a full body for the style. Good carbonation. Long bitter aftertaste, I think its mostly from a hop presence. I don't notice any alcohol warmth, but otherwise I think this is a solid entry for this style.

Appearance: Straight black. Very faint vestiges of dark brown when held to bright direct light. Head is creamy, thick, and persistent. A solid dark tan with sheets of lacing and crazy retention. Carbonation looks a bit high for the style, but they dialed everything else in perfectly.

Smell: Crazy roasted malts. Some vague hints of almost smoke. Deeply cooked, caramelized, Some licorice and cereal grain. Burnt bordering on charred and damaged. A vague grassy element running through the back. A touch of pine and earthy hops, but it's malty. Similar to the porter if you dialed it up over 11. Layers of cocoa and dark chocolate. Really hits closer to a baltic porter. Sweet, almost sugary, pushes close to too much, but not quite.

Taste: Boom! Roasted! They burnt sugar. Deeply caramelized pushing caramel with hints of toffee and vanilla as well. Almost like marshmallow on the back. Burnt, like really burnt, but it helps balance some of this big sweetness. Sugar and caramelize sugar. Hops are decidedly earthy with a touch of a grassy finish. Milk chocolate sweetness. Cocoa/baker's chocolate abounds, especially as it warms. Bitterness rides throughout thanks to the burnt/roasted nature. A touch of alcohol with a lingering burnt sugar finish.

Mouthfeel: Slick up front but gives way to an above average carbonation. Drinks a bit bubbly with a medium body and moderate carbonation. Really loses a little punch here as it's less smooth than standard. With that said, it's super easy to drink.

Overall: Michael Scott's insult strategy.

For the price, it would definitely be hard to beat. Reminds me of a slightly less hoppy Old Rasputin, but that just might be the assertive hop character. A nice take, but it reads baltic porter to me and that's just a bit odd.